When Johnny Comes Marching Home Poem Analysis

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Recommended: War poetry in English literature

“Get ready for the Jubilee, Hurrah! Hurrah! We 'll give the hero three times three, Hurrah! Hurrah,”! Many British citizens seemed to bellow this song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” when their young soldiers heroically marched off to battle in their camouflaged trousers, tunics, and trench caps. When Johnny came marching home, joy and peace would permeate the atmosphere. There would be no more tears, fears, or hardships when Johnny comes marching, clothed in a raiment of dignity and strength. However, many of them did not realize that Johnny might march home with mental disorders and crippled legs. Johnny might come home with a missing ear or nose. In the worst case scenario, Johnny might not march home at all. Many of the poets from World War I blazoned the macabre details of war, and unveiled the horrific truth of war. They did not shield the truth from the British eyes, but instead exposed them to the lucid, grisly details. Many British poets, such as Wilfred Owens and Seigfreid Sasoon, displayed …show more content…

Since the British during this time believed that they had “refined taste”, there was very little use of explicit words, but instead proper words. However, “During and after World War I, flowery Victorian language was blown apart and replaced by more sinewy and R-rated prose styles.” (articles.latimes.com) In order for poets like Owen and Sasoon to convey their message, they had to use precise, candid language. There refused to soften their language in order to lessen the blow of the meaning of their poems. Sasoon described the English soldiers as “damned” and speaks of the “stenches” in the battlefield. Owens vividly describes soldiers in “Mental Cases” whose “baring teeth… leer like skulls’ teeth wicked,” and how “the sun seems a blood smear” and night becomes blood-black.” (poemhunter.com) Words like damned, leer, blood-black, stenches, and etcetera intensely describe the soldiers’

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